


Two SuperDads and a Teenage Witch

by Kimbali



Series: The Trials and Travels of Team Cap [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), captain america: civil war - Fandom
Genre: #Teamcap, Civil War, Clint is protective Dad, Comic Relief, Contingency Plans, Depression, Family, Feels, Funny, Gapfill, Gets a little dark in some places i'm so sorry, Guest appearances, How Team Cap got there, Human Rights, Makes so much sense, Pilot is an asshole, Scott is a sweetie, Sokovia Accords, Spy - Freeform, Team Bonding, Teenage Witch, The family you choose, but gets better i promise, cute things my kids have done, deep and meaningfuls, legalised discrimnation, superdads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-07 23:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12851757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimbali/pseuds/Kimbali
Summary: Takes place at the same time as Two Super Soldiers, a Falcon and a '68 Beetle.So if you’ve read my other fic, we’ve explored what happens when you cram two super soldiers, a Falcon and a bobble-headed bulldog into a 1968 VW Beetle for a road trip through Germany. But what happens when you get the two Dad Superheroes and a teenage Witch stuck together on a trip halfway around the world? How will they get there? Will they be able to convince Wanda that she’s not as alone as she feels? And who the hell is driving?With a special guest appearance!Warning: Emotional rollercoaster ahead. You must be this tall to ride.





	1. A Man Walked into a Quinjet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guys, after writing 2SS+F in a 68 bug it got me a bit that you have these two guys, the only superheroes that are also dads working together in CW with a teenager (I’m putting Wanda at 19). It seemed like a bonding opportunity that had been missed. Writing that was hampered by the whole question of how these people made it from the US to Germany in record time and miraculously short of a quinjet, until I had an epiphany...
> 
> Because of said epiphany, this story ended up a lot heavier than originally intended, mostly due to character and plot plausibility. Don't get me wrong, 2SS+F in a 68 bug also had some deep and meaningfuls, but nothing on this one. Luckily I have some amazing characters to work with and humour happens. I feel like I stuck pretty close to all characters involved. :)

Clint dragged Wanda away from the newly formed hole in the floor – well, multiple holes in multiple floors actually, as well as the foundations of the building, and possibly the bedrock. Damn that girl was powerful; but then so was Vision, and he wanted to have them well away before Vision recovered.

He knew this place would fall apart the moment he left.

They ran across the lawn aiming for the tree line, listening out for any sign of Vision emerging from the rubble behind them.

Not that they were likely to hear him. The guy can float through walls.

“Where are we going?” Wanda asked, panting.

“Siberia. With a couple of detours on the way.”

“No, I mean, where are we going right _now_?”

Oh right. “I’ve got a quinjet parked in a clearing just up ahead.”

“A quinjet? Whose quinjet? Nat took one to Vienna and Steve took the other.”

“I know a guy who owes me a – fuck!” He gasped the last word out as his right shoulder collided with the hard edge of an invisible something.

“He owes you a fuck?” Wanda sounded confused, her accent strong as she peered at him in through dark. It was sometimes easy to forget that English wasn’t her first language until situations like this. It took a bit of a beating when under stress.

“No. Shit.” Goddamn cloaking technology. In the Goddamn dark too, even Hawkeye can’t see that shit. He clutched at the throbbing arm where the edge of the quinjet’s wing had corked the muscle of his upper bicep. “Motherfucker.”

“I believe that’s my line, Agent Barton.”

The quinjet materialised as the cloaking lifted, and Clint saw that he was only a couple of steps away from potentially concussing himself on the undercarriage of the jet. Because that wouldn’t be embarrassing when you’re off to save the world from a crack team of brain-washed super soldiers, at all.

From around the other side of the newly revealed quinjet emerged the man who had offered them a ride; tall and dark, serious-faced with a knitted cap covering his bald head. He wore a patch over his left eye and had developed a bit of grey stubble across his chin that he hadn’t bothered to shave.

He was still dressed like a homeless person.

Although considering he was officially dead, Clint supposed he could have looked worse.

“Clint? Who is this guy?” Wanda asked suspiciously. After the blow-up over the Accords – both the figurative and literal blow-up – and the way her own team mates had treated her, Clint figured she had a right to be wary of a stranger.

Clint glanced at the man, who gave him the tiniest nod. Permission.

“Wanda, this is Nick Fury. Ex-director of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

She frowned. “I thought Nick Fury is dead. Steve said he was assassinated during the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. “ Her eyes stayed on Fury’s expressionless face, though her words were directed at Clint. Fury answered anyway.

“Death doesn’t seem to be as permanent as it used to be. I know of a few people who’ve come back from it. It’s kind of a freeing experience. But I need the world to keep thinking I’m dead, you understand?”

“Who else knows? Who’s keeping that secret?”

“The Avengers. Plus a very select few that I trust completely. Are you going to be part of that few?”

She frowned at him, obviously stung by the implication. “I’m an Avenger, aren’t I? I can keep your secret.”

Fury raised an eyebrow. “Good to hear kid. Guess we’ll see if that’s worth anything by the end of the day.” he said drily. From the way Wanda glared at him she clearly took offence; she sucked in a sharp intake of breathe but he cut her off before she got a word out. “Are we gonna get this bird up in the air, or are we gonna stand around talking until your other Avenger friend back there turns up?”

Wanda looked back uneasily toward the compound as if expecting Vision to appear on cue. Maybe Fury had a point questioning whether being an Avenger was worth anything, given that they appeared to be turning on each other.

They got on the quinjet, stashed their gear as Fury turned the cloaking back on and put her in the air. Wanda took a seat in the rear; Clint moved up to stand behind Fury’s seat with his hand gripping the back, earning him a one eyed glare until he removed it. “We need to make a detour to San Francisco on the way. There’s someone there we need to pick up.”

“San Francisco isn’t exactly _on the way_ to Siberia.”

“Depends which way round the world you're travelling. And Steve’s rallying the troops in Germany not Siberia, that’s where we’re headed.”

“Now you’re just being a pain in my ass. I’m not you’re Goddamn Uber driver to dick around with.”

“But you came to give us a lift anyway. Why?”

Fury was silent long enough that Clint was beginning to think he wouldn’t answer at all. Finally he spoke. “After Barnes showed up in DC and then disappeared again, we went digging for as much information as we could on the Winter Soldier. The records of the experiments Zola originally performed on Barnes way back during the war got lost when Rogers blew the place sky high, but the records we did find of the tests the Soviet branch of HYDRA ran on Barnes later were...informative. Given HYDRA had a highly successful asset under their control, it’s easy to assume they would want more of them.”

“You knew about the other soldiers?”

“Never found enough evidence to say. But we guessed at the possibility of their existence. There had been multiple attempts to reverse engineer the serum from Rogers’ blood even on our side. Twenty-seven years back, one of the attempts was even thought to be successful.”

“Let me guess; the scientist was killed and the serum stolen.”

“The scientist and his wife were killed in a car accident on the way to the Pentagon, where they were going to discuss trialling the serum on human subjects.”

They both lapsed into silence, processing the implications. Eventually Clint broke. “Five winter soldiers, who Barnes says are more vicious and dedicated to the HYDRA cause than he was. And half the Avengers too caught up in the Accords business to believe it.”

“Possibly six winter soldiers. You’ve only got Barnes’ say so on the kind of situation you’re walking into, and frankly, I don’t trust that Barnes not to get all Winter Soldier on yo ass. He might have been a good man once, and maybe he is reformed, I don't know. But seventy years of HYDRA programming...that’s not going to shake easily. The incident in Berlin is proof of that.”

Clint sighed, and stood up to move down to the back of the quinjet to join Wanda. “Good thing Wilson was able to suggest some extra back up, we need all we can get.”

“Clint.” The tone in Fury’s voice, the use of his first name, stopped him. “Cap thinks the sun shines out of Barnes’ ass. He’s too emotionally involved, and while Wilson has a good head on him, he tends to follow Cap’s lead. If Barnes turns, you might have to make the call.”

Clint stared at the back of Fury’s head feeling cold sweep through him. Motherfucking son of a bitch. So that’s why he was so willing to play chauffeur.

“If I have to kill Barnes, Steve is never going to forgive me.”

“I trust you to read the situation and do what needs to be done. You made a good call with Romanoff, choosing to bring her in and turn her rather than killing her. I trust your judgement with Barnes. And if you have to make sure Barnes is killed, it would be to save Steve’s life.”

“Steve isn’t going to see it like that.”

“No. He’s not.” He said it like it was no more than a comment on the weather.

Clint stared at him a moment longer. At no point during that last part of the conversation had Fury even turned to meet his eyes. Fuck him.

He turned on his heel. “You’re not the boss of me. I’m retired and you’re dead,” he muttered.

It didn’t matter though. He knew Fury was right.

***

When he joined Wanda she was sitting with her back to the bulkhead, her knees pulled up and her feet on the next seat. She hugged her knees with one arm, her chin resting in the palm of her other hand, fingers cupped against her lips. There were tears sliding silently down her face, which she brushed away with the sleeve of her sweater when she saw him approach.

He sighed internally, careful not to show it. Looks like he was everyone’s responsible adult today.

“Hey kiddo. You doing ok?”

She took her feet off the seat letting him sit down but wouldn’t look at him. Instead she stretched her legs out and stared down at the toes of her boots, letting her hair fall forward to partially cover her face. Her head wobbled in something that looked like something that was trying to be a nod but kept becoming a shake.

“Do you think Vision is ok?” She asked her boots.

Clint had no idea what could injure Vision, but he supposed that if anything could, it was possibly Wanda. Not that that would be a helpful answer.

“Vision is incredibly tough, you know that. I think it’s going to take more than being dropped through seven floors, and a basement level to make him anything less than ok.”

She still didn’t look up from her boots. “Do you think Vision hates me now?” A tremble had entered her voice.

“Hey, look. No one in the Avengers would hate you. I doubt what you did was enough to make Vision hate you.”

“But that’s how it works!” She burst out. “If people are afraid they turn it to hate.”

Point. “Vision’s not exactly people though.”

“Neither am I!” She finally looked up at him, tossing her hair back and wiping away a sniffle on her sleeve. “Not normal people, not human. Not like the rest of you.”

He saw it now. “The Accords.”

“It’s not just the Accords. It’s..” she waved a hand. “I had a family once and my parents were killed. Then it was just me and Pietro, so we weren’t alone. We still had each other. When we went through this change, we were different from other people, but that was ok. We were different together. But then he died, and I had no one, but the Avengers took me in. And Natasha acts like a big sister, and Steve alternates between acting like a big brother and sometimes like a total grandpa.” She laughed a little through the tears at that. “And when Pepper came around she was a bit like a mother, going around organising everyone and telling Tony off. And now it’s split and everyone’s fighting. Is this what a divorce is like?”

He didn’t know. He’s never had to deal with one.

He moved closer, putting his arm around her shoulders and giving a comforting squeeze. She let him do it.

“It’s not your fault kiddo.”

She sniffled. “That sounds like something they tell the kids during a divorce.”

“That doesn’t stop it from being true.”

“But it’s not true now. The only reason they wrote anything about control of the Avengers into the Accords was because of what I did in Lagos. All those people I killed. The fact that I can control minds, that’s what has people afraid.”

“You know there was more to it than that. There was the fact that Tony created Ultron which caused the destruction of Sokovia. Hulk’s rampage through Johannesburg.” She turned her tear-stained face to stare at him incredulously, and he belatedly remembered her mind control had played a part in both of those incidents. “Uh. Alright. And also the collateral damage we caused during the Chitauri attack in New York.” Which was a bit rich in his opinion, considering the US government was going to respond to the threat by nuking the most populated city on its own soil, for crapsake. The death toll would have been a hell of a lot worse if Tony hadn’t redirected those missiles. “And don’t forget that would cover Thor and the Banner, they’re non-human and enhanced.”

“And they’re not _here_ ,” She emphasised. “No one’s seen them for two years. I’m the only freak in the Avengers right now, me and...”

“And Vision.” Jesus, no wonder the kid was upset at the idea of losing him. Even in her makeshift family, now in conflict, Vision’s presence helped her feel a little less of a freak.

Let’s face it: Vision was an artificial intelligence created by Tony and based on the voice of Tony’s dead childhood butler and combined with a magical gemstone from alien technology, and shoved into a synthetic physical body that wasn’t even two years old yet and didn’t give a damn about solid structures.

That would be enough to make anyone feel less like an outsider in comparison. Hell, compared to that, Steve was just strong and healthy.

He gave her an extra squeeze around the shoulders, the only comfort he could offer under the circumstances. She laid her head on his shoulder, taking the comfort, and they sat in silence for a while, feeling the slight thrum of the quinjet engines around them.

“So, if Pepper’s the mom of the Avengers, is Tony the dad?”

“No. Sam’s the dad. He’s the only other one who acts like a reasonable, responsible adult. Tony’s like that uncle who rocks up late on Christmas after all the preparation has been done, cracks jokes and drinks, gives the kids sugar and noisy annoying toys that their parents hate, then when the party’s over and the clean up starts he leaves them for the parents to deal with the results.”

He snorted. “Yeah, that sounds like Tony.”

***

They touched down near Kirby Cove, close enough to rendezvous with their back up, but far enough away from the San Francisco airport that they could avoid crossing flight paths.

It had been night when they left upstate New York; here the sun was still setting. It made for a pretty sight, as he emerged from the quinjet beside Wanda, watching the pink and orange sky fade behind the Golden Gate Bridge. A postcard picture. He watched Wanda turn her face up to the last dying rays of the sun, appreciating the fading warmth as the stars started to come out behind them. She looked like she had recovered some from her earlier breakdown, though he knew the problem was far from resolved.

There were two men waiting by a battered van; as he watched one of them slide open the side door to pull out a duffel bag.

“So, who is this guy?” Wanda asked him.

“Scott Lang, AKA the Ant-man. An Ex-thief that Hank Pym, inventor of the Pym particles and the previous Ant-man, took under his wing. Gave him the suit, gave him the technology, gave him the training.” He shrugged. “He shrinks.”

“Ok. How does Sam know him?”

“Apparently this guy kicked Sam’s ass when he broke into the Avengers compound a while back.”

She studied the two approaching men. “And the other guy?” her voice dropped as they came within hearing distance.

He snorted. “No idea.” He stepped forward.

The man with the duffel bag stepped forward to shake his hand. “Hi! Wow, hi! I’m Scott. Wow! I can’t believe I get to fight alongside the Avengers, I’m a huge fan! I mean, I know who you are, you’re Hawkeye. And Scarlet Witch!” He turned to his friend. “Luis! It’s Scarlet Witch!”

The guy referred to as Luis beamed at them both. “Hey Ms Witch, I just gotta say, I’m like, a huge fan of the way you make things fly around and glow red and blow up and shit, and you’re all just like...wooosh...” he waved his hands around in an exaggerated mimic of Wanda using her powers. Wanda raised her eyebrows, but the guy seemed earnest. “I mean it’s freaky, but it’s cool freaky, you know what I’m sayin’?”

“Cool freaky. Thanks.” She seemed equal parts amused and incredulous at the attempt at flattery. Clint kind of loved Luis a bit in that moment. Given her earlier breakdown, the reminder that she had gushing fans out there could only boost her self-esteem a little.

Even if this particular fan sounded like he was stoned.

“And Luis is your...”

Scott said “friend” at the same time Luis said “sidekick”. They looked at each other, before Scott shrugged a little. “He’s helped out a bit on my last mission.”

“Yeah man, like, if you guys need a decoy, or an inside man on this mission you got, I could like pretend to be a security guard to let you in. We did that last time, and I gotta say I aced that shit man. Didn’t I man?” He nudged Scott’s shoulder.

Scott nodded, clearly amused. “Aced it.”

“Yeah man, I was born for this thing. I’m like, a master of subterfuge and infiltration and shit,” he informed the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who had made a career out of subterfuge and infiltration and shit.

Okaaay then.

“Do you speak Russian?” Clint asked. He would be very surprised if he did, and wasn’t planning on taking him regardless.

“No. But I could like, put on a fake Russian accent, like they do in the movies. That could work right?”

Clint exchanged a speaking glance with Scott, but to his surprise it was Wanda that took control of the situation.

“Luis, we really appreciate you wanting to help, but this mission is way too dangerous, I don’t want you to get killed. If we ever have a mission that needs your level of skill, we’ll consider bringing you on, but this one is dangerous enough we’re only taking people who are highly trained or enhanced. Ok?”

Luis wilted. “Oh yeah. Ok. That’s cool man. I get it.”

“I’m sorry Luis.”

“Nah that’s cool man. I got a thing on this weekend anyway, and like, I can’t just leave my van sitting out here where someone’ll strip it, know what I’m sayin’?”

Wanda studied him a moment. “Would it cheer you up if we took a selfie together?”

“Yeah? For real?” And just like that he bounced back to his irrepressible self.


	2. Eye, Captain!

Scott stashed his duffle bag and stared around him in obvious awe as Fury called Clint up to the cockpit.

“Scuttlebutt has it that Stark’s private jet has just flown into JFK.”

Clint frowned. “What the hell? What would he need to return to New York for?”

“Maybe he forgot something.” Scott had followed Clint up to the cockpit, probably out of sheer curiosity. He turned to Fury. “Oh hey, I’m Scott. I know both these guys, but sorry I don’t recognise you. Are you a superhero too?”

“No.”

There was a lengthy pause as Scott waited for Fury to expand the reply further. It wasn’t forthcoming.

“Okay then. Nice to meet you too.” He turned to Clint and mouthed _Who is this guy?_ To which Clint replied with a shrug. If Fury didn’t want Scott to know who he was, Clint wasn’t about to give it away.

The mood of the flight improved somewhat once Scott was onboard. Clint had to admit that might have been to do with the fact that Scott provided Wanda and himself with a solid 10 minutes of premium in-flight entertainment by enthusing over the various features of the Quinjet while Fury provided increasingly terse monosyllabic answers to his excited questioning.

“Are those Pratt & Whitney J48-P-8A Turbojet engines I saw?”

“Yes.”

“Nice. So hypersonic speed right? What are we, flying at about Mach 7 right now?”

“Yes.”

“Can I fly it?”

“No.”

“Can this thing go into space?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever taken it –“

“No.”

“How does the cloaking technol- “

“Not. Telling.”

Oh hey, three syllables.

“Is that a –“

“No.”

There was a pause.

“Don’t you have autopilot on this thing?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t want to come and relax in the back with the rest of us?”

“ _Hell_ no.”

Entertaining as hell, if only for the tension evident across Fury’s shoulders and the way he gripped the controls.

Maybe he should step in. But then again, considering the burden Fury had just put on him...

Nah. Let the bastard suffer a little.

Actually he kind of wished they could have brought Luis along, just to increase Fury’s headache.

“Do you have any trouble flying this thing with only one eye? Doesn’t that mess with your depth perception?”

Uh oh.

“Right, everybody can just get the fuck out of my cockpit!” Fury yelled.

They beat a hasty retreat to the rear of the jet. Bringing up the rear, Clint was sure he heard Fury muttering about being sick of the motherfucking superheroes on his motherfucking plane.

“How do you know about that stuff?” Wanda asked Scott.

He grinned at her. “I’m an engineer.”

“I thought you were a thief,” Clint interjected.

“Well, ok. I’m qualified as an engineer. I used to be an engineer,” he amended. “But yeah, the last couple of jobs I’ve done, yes I suppose you could say I was a thief.”

“Yeah, you broke into Avengers headquarters to steal from us, remember?” Clint pointed out.

“Hey yeah. Look man, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know it was Avengers HQ until I got there, honest. And I felt like a total tool stealing from the Avengers like that, I can totally see why Falcon assumed I was a bad guy. I genuinely meant to bring it back after I’d finished with it, but, you know, a building exploded and landed on it.”

Clint’s phone buzzed, and he checked the caller ID. “I have to take this,” he muttered to the other two, making his way to the head for privacy. He’d been expecting this call.

“Hey Nat.”

“Hey Clint. Where are you?” She sounded like she already suspected.

He leaned against the bulkhead. “Oh you know, retirement can get a little boring, gotta get out and socialise, so I decided to meet up with some of the guys I used to know from work. Wanna come hang with us?”

There was a long pause from the other end. “Clint. You’re retired. Stay out of this.”

“Yeah well, here’s the thing, I turn my back for a second and the Avengers fall apart fighting among themselves. Seems they need a responsible adult around.”

“So you’ve decided to join Steve in defying the Accords? I’m surprised at you Clint. Registering non-humans and enhanced is going to help us protect people. Like your kids.”

Goddamn it. “Don’t you pull that Helen Lovejoy ‘think of the children’ crap on me Nat. I _am_ thinking of them. I just had a teenage girl crying on my shoulder because she feels like her family is falling apart and the people she trusts are treating her like a freak and a criminal. And if any of my kids reacted to the teragenesis, or any other weirdness, the Accords that _you_ signed would do the same. They would be tagged and registered and restricted and questioned like a fucking sex offender. A human gets caught speeding, they pay a fine; the way these Accords are written, an enhanced individual can be incarcerated indefinitely for the same crime. I don’t want my kids having to face that possibility; I don’t want anyone’s kids to. But any enhanced individual will have that record and it will follow them everywhere they go, risking all the discrimination and attitude that goes with it. Human rights are for humans; everyone else gets the Accords, right? But Nat, 117 countries signed those Accords. How many of those representatives were themselves non-human?”

“None. That we know of.”

“So 117 humans passed legislation on how non-humans should be treated, and non-humans didn’t even get any representation or say in the writing of the decision.”

“Tony and I –“

“Signed after the decision was made, under pressure, and are both human. Tony doesn’t even have the arc reactor anymore, so he’s not considered enhanced. And you’re good Nat, but you are human.”

“Steve –“

“Is enhanced, refused to sign and got dubbed a criminal. Wanda just reminded me today that there are currently only three members of the Avengers that are enhanced to five humans. That’s splitting the team apart, and if it’s causing conflict among us, think how much worse it will be outside the team.”

“And Vision?”

He sighed. “Vision is barely two years old, and still sees the world in numbers and statistics. He doesn’t see the humanity in the inhumans and how that could be taken away, because he’s still learning what humanity is, the good and the bad sides.” He hoped that Wanda’s response to being under house arrest might help him learn faster. She was one of the few he saw and interacted with as a person. “The Accords are written around the idea that humans should have the right to _control_ them. To monitor them, to control where they go and how they behave. Because humans have such a _great_ record with their treatment of their fellow humans that might be just a little bit different. What could possibly go wrong with putting them in charge of a minority group that legally aren’t allowed to defend themselves and could face indefinite incarceration without trial if they do?”

He was sitting on the floor now, one knee drawn up and his back to the bulkhead. He didn’t remember getting there.

“So you’ve decided to take Steve’s side.”

“Steve’s facing a bigger issue right now Nat. The Accords are getting in the way of that.”

“You’re referring to Barnes.”

“Not just Barnes. Did you get a chance to talk to Steve or Sam in Berlin?”

“Well, no Clint, between Steve’s arrest and Barnes’ murderous rampage, we didn’t get to exchange many words.” She replied drily.

“Sounds like somebody had enough time to exchange ten little very effective words though. That’s what triggered the rampage. And the person who used those ten little words found out the location of five more Winter Soldiers.”

He heard the sharp intake of breath. “There was no mention of that in the HYDRA files I released back in DC. Only Barnes’ own file. Who’s your source?”

“Barnes himself.”

He could almost hear her raise her eyebrow. “This is the same Barnes that blew up the UN.”

“Steve’s theory is that someone disguised themselves as Barnes to do that, to flush him out of hiding, ensure he was caught. The psychiatrist who interrogated Barnes was part of that conspiracy to gain the information they needed.”

“Steve’s a little bit blind when it comes to his old pal Bucky Barnes.”

“Yeah.” He couldn’t deny that.

“What about you Clint? Do _you_ trust this information? Do you trust Barnes?”

“I don’t know. But your new handlers won’t trust it or him, and it will take too long to convince them.”

“We would need to warn –“ She paused. “If we told the Russian government and they actually believed us, they might decide to keep their new pets. And we can’t just go poking around the location to confirm the information without permission.”

“You tied your own hands on that one, Natasha. But I need to go with Barnes.”

She was silent a while. “I see.”

He knew she would. Knew she know what he meant by that particular wording.

“You should have stayed in retirement Clint.”

He sighed, his head thudding back against the bulkhead. “Yeah, maybe.”

***

He hadn’t convinced Natasha yet, he knew that; but he also knew she would think over the information he had given her. She wouldn't break the Accords lightly, but well...

If he failed, he knew she would step up to do what needs to be done.

“Hey Clint. You ok man?” Scott and Wanda were huddled together looking at something.

He shook himself. “Just got a lot on my mind.”

“About the mission?”

He should tell them about Barnes. He’ll need to warn them, prepare them for the possibility of betrayal, for what he might have to do.

“Hey, you want to see some photos of my kid?”

Curious, he wandered over.

Scott’s phone showed a picture of a girl about Lila’s age, with light brown hair and Scott’s bright brown eyes, intelligent and cheerful.

“That’s Cassie.”

“She’s cute,” Wanda told him.

“Yeah. You know the only real regret I have for the VistaCorp robbery was that I missed out on three years of her growing up. Can’t get that back, you know?”

He flicked through the phone, explaining each photo.

“That’s Cassie’s birthday. That’s my ex Maggie and her new fiancée Jim. It was pretty awkward at first, I mean, he was a cop, I was a thief, and having this guy with my ex-wife and raising my kid is pretty weird. Yeah ok, I didn’t like him, he didn’t like me either. We’re getting along ok now. Mostly.”

“What on earth is that?” Wanda asked in disgust. The next Cassie photo included an ant roughly the size of a border collie by her side.

“Oh, the giant ant? Yeah, she kind of has that effect on people. I was going to shrink her back down except Cassie took a liking to her. Her name is Sugar Cube.”

“Sugar Cube?”

Scott shrugged. “Well yeah. Cassie chose the name. You know what kids can be like when naming pets.”

Clint suddenly remembered Princess Pancakes the cat. Yeah, he knew what kids were like when naming pets. Nothing like wandering around the countryside at night with a torch calling out ‘Princess Pancakes’ at the top of your lungs looking for a lost damn cat. Or having to ask around in town while keeping a straight face.

It was a lot less funny when they’d found the cat had lived up to her name under the wheels of a pickup truck.

“”She makes a pretty good pet actually,” Scott continued. “Once I stopped her from chewing up the porch. She eats anything, so kind of cheap to feed. Have to chase her down off the walls sometimes. But at least she doesn’t bark all the time like the neighbour’s dog. It never shuts up.”

“Maybe it’s barking because it’s freaking out about the giant insect in the next yard?” Clint pointed out drily.

Scott blinked. “Oh crap. I never thought about that. Oh man, now I feel bad about yelling at it.”

Clint rolled his eyes.

“Oh hey, I’ve got another photo of Cassie and Sugar Cube here somewhere...here it is. How’s that for a Halloween costume?” He showed it off proudly.

Cassie stood in a miniature Ant-Man costume, the face of her helmet pulled up to reveal a beaming face. Next to her the giant ant stood, attached by a leash.

“Oh wow,” Wanda managed.

“It’s pretty cool when your kid wants to dress up as you for Halloween. She didn’t get a lot of candy because people were too freaked by the giant ant, but still.”

Yeah. It was a pretty good feeling. It didn’t matter that you might be a hero to the rest of the world – and he couldn’t deny that he was the least flashy of the Avengers, there were a lot more kids painted green or dressed in red, white and blue, or the mini-Thors and Iron Men, than the one or two donning bow and arrow, and hell, that kid might’ve been dressed as that Hunger Games girl for all he knew. Hard to tell. But when the same kids that grumbled or rolled their eyes at you over being sent to bed or emptying the dishwasher, who watched with interest while you taught them left shoe from right before you come to the embarrassing realisation that you’d gotten it backwards, or who performed a makeover on you while you were passed out on the couch, when they saw you as their favourite superhero...

Yeah. Those were the ones that counted.

Nat had shown more mixed reactions about seeing Lila dressed up as the Black Widow the one year, though she was careful to show only pride in front of the kids. “It’s great that she looks up to me, really,” she had told him with a shrug and a lost look. “And the people that say how great it is to have a strong female superhero to be a role model to the girls. I get that. But I’d already strangled a classmate by Lila’s age, so yeah, it just freaks me out a little whenever I see some happy little kid dressed up as the Black Widow and saying they want to be just like me when they grow up. The kids have no idea.”

He’d bumped his shoulder against hers. “Let’s try to keep it that way.”

Which was the reason why he was here and not still in retirement spending time with said kids, thank you very much Nat.

“You know, back in my day, superheroes hid their secret identity and didn’t go flashing around photos of the kids and making them a target for any bad guy that knows how to unlock a phone,” Fury called back from the cockpit. Apparently he’d overheard enough of Scott’s conversation to know what he was doing.

“Yeah well, I don’t know when your day was...quinjet guy. But I like to have photos of Cassie. It reminds me why I’m doing this,” Scott shot back.

“Do you often forget why you’re doing things?” Fury asked drily. “’Cause, that’s a sign of old age.”

Scott stared at him, then turned back to both Clint and Wanda in turn. “Seriously?” He burst out. “Who the fuck even is this guy?”

“If we told you, he might have to kill you,” Wanda told him sympathetically.

“Trust me, if he doesn’t want you to know, you are better off not knowing,” Clint informed him. He was about 70 percent certain that Fury was just withholding that information to fuck with Scott now. He moved up to the cockpit when Fury beckoned.

“You might have to take care of that one, Barton.” Fury told him quietly, jerking his head back at Scott, making his meaning clear.

Take care of...? “Jesus Christ, Fury,” he hissed back. “Any other team members you want to add to my hit list today? What the fuck has he done to deserve that? Other than irritate you.”

Fury turned a one-eyed glare on him. “Did I ask you to kill him? I meant, take care of him, asshole. Now, I'm sure he means well, but the guy’s a total amateur. That’s what you get when Goddamn _scientists_ decide to train superheroes. You’re gonna be dealing with half a dozen winter soldiers and this kid’s treating it like a family road trip.”

Oh right. Maybe his meaning hadn’t been clear.

 “Scott’s a nice, friendly guy, that’s all.”

“Yeah well, I don’t need to tell you where nice guys finish. When it comes to the crunch, nice and friendly isn’t gonna cut it.”

Clint glanced back at his two team mates. Wanda was laughing at whatever Scott was telling her, his hands waving about as he re-enacted parts of the story.

“Yeah well, nice and friendly looks like exactly what some of us need right now.”


	3. World Peas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love these characters. I spent ages trying to work out the ending for this one, given the dark events I had to work with. Thank the gods for lovable dorks :)

 

“So anyway, Luis’s got these two stolen these smoothie machines, the store alarms are going off, and he’s managed to get them unplugged and on to a trolley to get them out the door and into the van. Trouble is, they were still full of smoothie mix, the store just leaves it all in there to keep stirring all night ready for the morning. So he’s gotten the two machines into the back of the van and taken off, but as he’s turned a corner both the machines have fallen over.”

Wanda winced. “Let me guess; smoothie spilled all through the back of the van.”

“Yep. Not only that though, but the seals around the door of this van were gone pretty badly, it was a real rustbucket, so smoothie started dripping out through the gaps leaving a trail along the road.”

“Ohhh. Poor Luis.”

“Yeah. The cops pretty much just followed the trail of smoothie back to where he stashed the van. The headline in the San Francisco Chronicle was ‘Struck by a Smoothie Criminal’. He was pretty proud of it, had a copy of the article stuck to the wall of our cell. Sang that damn song for weeks.”

Wand burst out laughing and Scott grinned, pleased with the response.

“Surely you’re not serious though?” She asked, still fighting to control her laughter as Clint rejoined them.

Scott pulled a mock serious face. “Oh, I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.”

Clint snickered despite himself. Wanda just looked confused.

“What?”

“It’s a movie quote,” he explained. “What? You haven’t seen _Airport!_?”

“What is Airport?”

“It’s a big building with airplanes. But that’s not important right now.” He grinned and accepted Scott’s low five, even as Wanda narrowed her eyes at him.

“It’s a movie. I’ll make you watch it sometime. One of the best comedies ever.”

“Roger, Roger.” Scott added in agreement.

“Oh yeah, we’ve pulled that one out on Steve a few times.”

Wanda huffed and shook her head. “You two are such dorks.”

“Hey, my kids think I’m funny. Alright, Cooper has started rolling his eyes a bit, but at least Lila and Nate are still young enough to think I’m hilarious.”

Scott blinked at him. “You have kids? You didn’t mention that. I never knew Hawkeye had kids.”

“Not many people know.” And yeah, he hadn’t intended to bring it up, but here was Scott already talking about his family, and he felt like he could trust the guy, and well...

Screw Fury anyway.

“When I met Laura I was still a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, so to help protect the family the last director of S.H.I.E.L.D helped set up a safe place for them, kept the marriage off the books.” He didn’t glance at Fury as he said it. “Nat’s known them the longest, but all the Avengers know of them now.” With a chill he realised that this meant home might not be a safe place to go back to now. Tony knows, and if he’s determined to bring the renegades in – he didn’t want to be dragged away in cuffs in front of his kids. He couldn’t put them through that.

Surely Nat wouldn’t let that happen.

“It’s a nice place, out in the country. Peaceful. The missions we’ve had are pretty full on, so it’s good to have somewhere safe and quiet to go home to, where there’s nothing more stressful than breaking up the odd argument between the kids, or getting the tractor to work.”

“How old are your kids?”

“Cooper’s ten, Lila’s seven, and Nathaniel is almost two years old.”

“Is he talking yet?”

“Yeah, got a few words. Mommy, Cooper, Lila, more, please, dog. Blue. Natty. Strawberry, though that comes out storby. No.”

“Not dad?”

Clint smiled at him. “I’m pretty sure he knows it, Laura says he says it for her when she tells him Daddy is coming home, but every time I ask him to ‘say Daddy’ he gives me this shit-eating grin, then calls me ‘dog’ and laughs like it’s the funniest joke ever.”

“Cassie called me cookie. I didn’t mind, if she wanted me to be cookie, I can be cookie.”

“Yeah.”

They kept talking quietly about their kids, even as Wanda started to doze off. None of the others knew what it was like to juggle the responsibilities of being a parent with the responsibilities of being a superhero. He found himself opening up to Scott in a way he hadn’t with anyone else.

“I mean, I love my home, I love my wife, I love my kids. And I love coming home to them between missions. But since I retired? I’d been going a little stir-crazy. It was all great at first, then I started getting twitchy, watching stuff on the news and wanting to do something. It was almost a relief when Cap called asking for help, which sounds pretty selfish considering things have to have gone to hell in a handbasket for him to pull me out of retirement, right?”

“Hey man, I get it. You’ve got a set of skills, you’re highly trained, and it feels good to be able to use it to save the world. You didn’t want the world to become threatened by a horde of winter soldiers, but at least you’re able to do something about it.”

“Well, five isn’t exactly a horde but...yeah. Anyway, thank God for Laura. I feel bad for leaving her alone with the kids for long periods of time, but after the third time I pulled up the boards on the damn porch to stop the creaking, and then Cap called...she told me I needed to answer the call. Said I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t.”

“She probably wanted you to stop dismantling the house.”

He grinned. “That too.”

“I guess it’s different for me. Cassie mostly lives with her Mom and Jim, though I get to see her a lot now that they see me less as a criminal. So she still has a stable home while I’m away, even though she might miss me. And it’s good to have a job, even if it's a weird one. Everybody loves the Robin Hood story, the little guy stealing from VistaCorp and giving back to the people, but no one wants to hire him.”

“Well that’s shit.”

“Yeah, I know. I got fired from Baskin Robbins for crapsake.”

They sat in silence for a moment, watching Wanda sleep. She’d had a long and emotionally trying day.

“Kid’s toys are weird now. Nate sleeps cuddling a plush cactus. Why cactus? What happened to teddy bears?”

“I know right? And what the hell is up with Shopkins?”

***

“Barton, get up here.”

Clint left the other two napping, coming up to the cockpit at Fury’s call.

“We’re just outside of Leipzig/Halle Airport. Luckily there’s plenty of countryside around for me to land in.”

“Don’t land in anyone’s crop fields, that’s someone’s livelihood.”

“Yeah, I know farmboy, I’m not going to crush anyone’s precious crops.” His tone suggested he was offended that Clint would think he was so much of an idiot. “If I leave a quinjet sized crop circle in the middle of someone’s field, people are gonna sit up and take notice.”

“Could blame it on aliens.”

“Which wouldn’t be as crazy as it used to be. I’ll drop you into the Burgaue nature reserve. That’ll keep us far enough from the airport to be out of the flight paths of the commercial airlines. Cloaking tech is great and all, but if they can’t see us, they can’t avoid crashing into us.”

“That’s fine. From there we can get into town and steal a vehicle.” He looked over his sleeping team mates. “Alright boys and girls, rise and shine. We’re about to land.”

Scott rolled over from where he was stretched out across multiple seats, yawning. “Oh man. What time is it?”

“Local time is 11 o'clock tomorrow morning.”

Scott blinked at Clint in sleepy confusion. “What?”

“Never mind. Get your kit together, we’ll have a short hike through the woods and over the hill to get to the nearest town.” He turned to Fury as the other two scrambled to grab their stuff. “You sure you don’t want to join us?”

“Hell no. You superheroes attract _way_ too much media attention for a dead man’s liking.”

Clint nodded. “Thanks for coming through when I called anyway.”

“Yeah, well, despite my deceased state, I kinda have a vested interest in _not_ allowing HYDRA trained super soldier assassins overrunning the world. So try to keep a reign on yours.”

Asshole.

The quinjet scanners showed no signs of human life below them; Fury set the quinjet down in the tiny clearing in the forest.

Wanda hurried past him with a quick “Thank you” to Fury. Scott followed on her heels, duffel bag over on shoulder.

“Bye, quinjet guy. Thanks for the lift,” he called out to Fury.

“Try not to get your stupid ass killed, Bug Boy,” came the reply.

Clint hauled his own archery bag onto his shoulder. “See you around.”

Fury put a set of sunglasses on over the eyepatch, squinting into the sun. “Maybe.”

He joined Wanda and Scott on the ground as the quinjet roared into the air.

“What an asshole.” Scott muttered.

Yeah.

It was hot in the forest, the trees blocking any breeze as they jogged South-east towards the outer suburbs of Leipzig, on the southern side of the river. The strap of his archery bag cut into his shoulder and sweat trickled down the back of his neck, but soon they reached civilization.

A few streets into town and the outskirts of a shopping centre parking lot provided a variety of vehicles to choose from. He made a beeline for a white van.

“I’ve got this,” Scott said smugly, pulling ahead. Before he reached the van a red glow appeared around the door handles. A clunk announced an unlocked door.

“Oh hey.” Scott stopped in his tracks, sounding a little offended.

“I’m sorry, I’ll let you have the next one!” Wanda called, now taking the lead. She pulled the passenger door open.

“Look, it’s fine, just everyone get in.” Clint stood watch in case the owner turned up while Scott loaded both bags into the van, Wanda climbing into the front passenger seat while Scott climbed into the back. Clint took the driver’s seat, checking for keys. “Any chance you can start this thing Wanda?”

“Easy.” The ignition turned despite the lack of keys, and the van came to life. Clint pulled it out of the carpark, into the street.

“Do you even know where we are?” Asked Scott from the back.

“Yeah. In front of a Netto.”

“Okay. That’s helpful,” Scott muttered. “Any idea how to get to where we are going?”

“We could ask for directions,” Wanda suggested.

“We’re trying not to attract attention.”

“So, I can lift the information from someone’s head and scramble their memory if we need to.”

Clint thought about it. “That could work.”

“How is that not attracting attention?” Scott demanded.

“Look, it’s a last resort anyway. We get on a main road, we head north across the river, then we head west. Look for signs for the airport, the autobahn should show it.”

“I don’t read German.”

“Fine. Look for the word ‘Flughafen’ then. ‘Flug’ spelled like ‘plug’.”

“Fluuughafen.” Scott repeated, drawing the word out. “Any chance we can go through a drive through for coffee? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a little jet lagged.”

“Yeah sure.” Clint was a little distracted. It was about time he told them the truth about this mission. Not so much that he might have to kill off a team member – announcements like that always sucked for team moral – but if he was going to get them home alive...

If he was going to give Scott a chance to see his little girl again...

He had to let them know. They had to know to watch their backs.

“Guys.” The suddenly serious tone in his voice grabbed their attention. “There’s something more to this mission you need to know.

You already know that the intel for this mission came from Barnes, an old buddy of Steve’s who has been subject to HYDRA programming for the past 70 odd years. You know that he’s the original Winter Soldier that these five are copied from. Sam told you all this right Scott?”

He saw Scott nod in the rear view mirror. “Yeah. He said Barnes is reformed though.”

“And he might be.” Or he might not be. “But there’s still a set of code words that act as a trigger causing him to involuntarily revert to the Winter Soldier. That’s what happened in Berlin. The guy we’re after, the guy on his way to Siberia to the location of five other winter soldiers, has those code words.”

“You’re saying we might go in there expecting to be up against five winter soldiers, and suddenly find ourselves with six,” Wanda said flatly.

He nodded, eyes on the road and gripping the wheel tightly. “I’m afraid so. I wanted to warn you guys so you can watch your backs. Watch each other’s backs. Watch Steve’s back, because Steve might trust his old friend too much.”

The van fell into silence as they processed the new intel.

“Well shit,” Scott finally said. “And if he does revert to Winter Soldier? What’s the plan?”

Clint hesitated.

“You get me close enough to hijack his mind.”

Clint damn near drove off the road. “What?”

Wanda frowned at him. “That is the plan right? If these words switch his mind into Winter Soldier mode, I go in, and I change it back. If I can’t do that, I can at least put him in a stupor, or distract him at least, so he harms no one until he can be dealt with properly. He may not like this, his mind being hijacked again after so many years of HYDRA controlling it, but if he knows it is to protect Steve, perhaps I will be forgiven.”

“That’s –“ Holy fuck. Holyyy _fuck_. Why the fuck didn’t he think of that? “That’s exactly what I want you to do,” he managed. “You think you can do that?”

She shrugged, looking at him as if he was acting weird. “Sure.”

 Clint drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling the weight lift. He had a non-lethal option for dealing with Barnes if needed. He had a good team around him, friends, damn near family, and he wasn’t going to have to betray the trust of any of them. And maybe some of those friends and family weren’t with him right now, maybe they were seeing things in a different light, but all he could do was the job in front of him, and hope that those friends came around. The burden he had carried since he and Wanda first got on the quinjet, since Fury had told him the reasoning behind his assistance, lifted a little.

“Oh hey. A Flughafen sign.” Scott pointed.

Clint smiled back at him. “Alright. I’ll let Steve know we’re on our way.”

As long as he got Wanda to Siberia with Steve and Barnes, it would all work out alright.

***

In the end, none of them managed to get to Siberia. None of them even made it onto the fucking quinjet. Steve was facing it alone, his only backup the man who might betray him.

There was a moment of fleeting hope when he hadn’t been able to see Natasha, when there was a chance that maybe she had gotten onto the quinjet with them...

His stomach plummeted when she reappeared, caught his eye and shook her head.

Now, locked in this cell that separated him from his team mates, simultaneously isolated and with no privacy behind the strengthened plexi-glass, the team lost in their own thoughts, he wondered if there was any hope left.

The worst part was not knowing whether Steve had succeeded or not. Whether it had all been worth it.

Actually, maybe not the worst part. The worst was reserved for the way he wanted to vomit at the sight of Wanda, arms strapped tightly around her and shock collar around her neck, sitting in the corner of her cell pale and listless, defeated, unable to even take a goddamn crap without being manhandled into place. Helpless, held indefinitely, and him unable to give her any comfort. He wondered how long it would take for her to go mad like this. And what they would do with her when she does. Who is he kidding? The answer was obvious; they wouldn’t be able to release a madwoman with mental manipulation. They would be lucky to even keep her captive. It was just a death sentence without any trial.

Only humans get to have human rights. Everyone else gets screwed.

The only bleak satisfaction he got was the look on Tony’s face when he saw her. It looked like how Clint felt, like the sight was twisting in his soul.

It wasn’t even the second worst part. It was hard to keep track of time in here, but it didn't matter if there's nothing to count down to. He stared down at his hands, at where the wedding ring would be if he wore one. Held indefinitely. And as far as his family might know, he could have vanished. The downside to a secret family is his captors don’t know he has next of kin to notify of his imprisonment. But then none of this was right, so he wondered if they would have bothered anyway.

I’m counting on you for that one, Nat. Keep them safe.

God he misses them.

Which brought him to Worst Part Number Three. He had failed Scott. The knowledge that Cassie might never see her father again either. He listened to Scott humming the Folsom Prison Blues and wondered if that had sunk in for Scott yet, that this time there was no trial, no parole, no sentence, no phone calls, no visits.

So yeah, the uncertainty over the mission’s success, over whether Steve survived wasn’t the worst part, but it certainly made the top five.

“I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with – p.”

There was a moment of incredulous silence following Scott’s statement.

“Really? We’re really going to be doing this?” Sam’s voice.

“Have you got anything better to do?” Scott’s voice replied. The angles of the cells meant Clint couldn’t see him, only a corner of Wanda’s cell.

Fair enough. He’ll bite. “plexi-glass.”

“No.”

“Plastic.”

“No.”

“Prison.”

“No. I can’t actually see the prison, only the stuff inside it, you know that right?”

“Man, I am seeing waaay too much of this prison,” Sam replied.

Staring at Wanda, Clint saw her face twitch.

“Wanda?”

“Wanda doesn’t start with p.”

“No idiot, I meant...” He meant her face was twitching again, and right at this moment it was one of the most beautiful fucking thing in the world. “Wanda, you got any guesses?”

She shook her head, tentative of the collar. “No.” But she definitely listening to this stupid ass guessing game.

“Prison uniform.”

“No.”

“Prison food.”

“No. I ate all mine. Didn’t you eat all yours?”

“No. I fucking hate peas. Peas!”

“No! I just told you, I ate all mine. And I can’t see yours.”

“Is it puddle?” Wanda’s voice rasped out, her voice rough with the screams and the crying and the shock collar.

“Ding ding ding! It is puddle!”

This was followed by a moment of confused silence.

“A puddle.” Came Sam’s voice flatly.

“His sink is leaking. I can see the puddle from here.” Wanda elaborated.

“A puddle. You know TicTac, Wanda’s the only one who is positioned can see the puddle located inside your cell.”

“Oh right. Sorry man. I didn’t think of that.”

Clint had to hide a smile. If Wanda could see into Scott’s cell, than Scott could certainly see into Wanda’s. Clint would lay good money that he’d done this just to try to cheer Wanda up.

They didn’t deserve this guy.

“You know, prick was gonna be my next guess.”

“Is that what you’re seeing in your cell right now Sam?”

“Better than seeing yours, TicTac.”

There was a definite beginnings of a smile on her face now. It wasn’t much, but it was there.

“It’s your turn Wanda,” he told her, and she stared at him uncomprehending for a moment, before clearing her throat. With her hands strapped down, she couldn’t even have a fucking drink of water.

“I spy with my little eye, something beginning with – s.”

The room was quiet as the three men considered options that didn’t include moodkillers like ‘straightjacket’ or ‘shock collar’.

“Security camera.”

“No.”

“Sink.”

“No.”

“Sam.”

“No. I can’t see Sam from here.”

“Scott then.”

“No.”

“Steve!”

“What?”

And there he was.


End file.
